October 30, 2007

I'm behind on posting, I know, I know, big surprise. There's a lot going on here at the Thurston/Smith House (maybe we should hyphenate our names...hmmm.) Anyway, last week I received a FANTASTIC surprise from Emily over at Vegan Knitting. It was for the Vegan Pal 2 swap and she was a great pal. It was also a magic ball swap, so you need to take one of the balls of yard and wrap little goodies in it as you wind it up. You can see the yarn she sent me before I unwrapped it below.

As you can see my package was filled with lots of great goodies. Including a recipe for Shepard's Pie (how did you know I've been looking for a good shepard's pie recipe?) and a mixed CD that I'm groovin' to right now. She also sent some beautiful fall paper leaves and card. Oh and ginger tea and dark chocolate...yum. And this lovely soft cotton yarn by Goddess Yarns in fantastic Suzanne fall colors.

Emily was a great partner especially during a time that was a bit difficult. I look forward to getting to know her better and reading her blog more often.

October 19, 2007

Last night Amanda and Peter came over and helped finish putting together our invitations. Peter actually hung out with Grant and Amanda and I worked on the invitations. They are pretty much done and most of them are going out today - yeah! I didn't take a picture of the invitation itself but will do that tonight. I think the came out very nice and thanks to my mother for letting me use her scrap booking supplies! Thank you Amanda for all your help!!

Also, last Sunday night a few of us got together to celebrate the moms to be, Amanda and Sarah. Amanda is due at the beginning of November and we're all getting very excited. Amanda P. did a fantastic job hosting and everything was lovely.

October 16, 2007

It's official, Grant and I got engaged last weekend. Ok, so this doesn't come as a surprise to many of you, but I think there are still a few out there who didn't know :)

We went to Assateague National Seashore (one of our favorite places) to camp for the weekend. The weather was beautiful and the weekend was magical from the beginning. First off, we actually got a camp site...not an easy thing to do when the park's reservation system is not working and the sites are first come first serve. As we were setting up camp in the afternoon sun, a bald eagle, low in the sky, flew over our site. It was incredible. We were also visited by many, many monarch butterflies, who were apparently making their way south, but decided to stop in and celebrate with us before continuing on their journey. That evening we also saw pelicans, deer, elk, wild horses and a rabbit. It was a nice evening, sitting by the fire, eating soup, and listening to the short wave radio.

The next morning we got up very early so we could walk to the beach and watch the sunrise. It was here that we affirmed our commitment to each other and to our relationship and exchanged rings. As we sat on the beach, watching the sun rise, listening to the waves crash, sipping on champagne and orange juice and appreciating each other, it couldn't have been any better.

After a lovely and delicious breakfast, we spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with each other and the Assateague animals. It was a wonderful weekend. We've posted some pictures here...

October 07, 2007

This picture is from the Poplar Farm Animal Sanctuary open house fund raiser. Grant and I went to it last weekend and it was really nice. The weather was perfect and we were able to visit with all the animals they've rescued and take care of. We also ate some really incredible vegan food. We look forward to visiting again soon, but hopefully as volunteers.